Summer drinks to savour

For golf: Duffer drinks

“Sandbagging” is downplaying your abilities to win a round of golf. It has inspired a bubbly, citrusy gin drink enjoyed in many Canadian clubhouses — now captured in a can, as Sandbagger hard seltzer (sandbagger.ca).

For those with less game, Triple Bogey Brewing Co. offers a full range of Canadian craft beers, including light and non-alcoholic brews (triplebogey.com). If you swing a club like a champion, try its Half and Half, a spiked play on the legendary Arnold Palmer’s favourite mix of half lemonade, half iced tea.

For camping and paddling: Outside the box

For a backcountry drinks hack, remove the carboard from, say, a boxed wine, and chill the tough, airtight plastic bladder in a cooler or right in the lake or river. Ideal to tap out of the spigot: Le Vieille Ferme three-litre boxes (look for the rooster illustration) of white and rosé wine and Cottage Springs four-litre boxes of Vodka Water in flavours like iced tea and raspberry lime.

For backyards and picnics: Quick chillers

Single-serving cans and bottles chill fast and eliminate the need for cups. Pop the caps off adorable stubby bottles of lightly sparkling Cosmopolitan or Lemon Drop cocktails from Duchess, a woman-led brand founded in Vancouver (duchesscocktails.com) — just add a compostable straw for a perfect afternoon. Pixie Petite Rosé Spritzer cans from Ontario winery Rosehall Run incorporate soda water for a refreshing pre-mixed drink that rings in under six per cent alcohol (rosehallrun.com). Renowned Nova Scotia winery Benjamin Bridge not only makes single-serve cans of its low-alcohol Piquette, a fizzy wine-based drink long enjoyed by French vineyard workers; it also offers a Piquette Zero with no alcohol at all (benjaminbridge.com).

Anytime: For a non-alcoholic summer beverage

Long summer days call for a drink that keeps you feeling fresh, hydrated and perky. WakeWater, made by Ontario’s Iconic Brewing Company, is a flavoured, caffeinated sparkling water, “for when the day isn’t done but you feel like you are.” It gets its kick from green tea (each can has 85 milligrams of caffeine, about the same as a 10-ounce Tim’s) and contains no sugar or sweeteners. Try lemon, grapefruit, blackberry or pineapple quenchers.